{Road Trip} Day Two - Arkansas

This morning we grabbed breakfast at our hotel and hit the road, arriving in Hot Springs, AR mid-morning.  Our plan was to explore the bathhouses in Hot Springs National Park, get stamps for the little ones' Passport Books, and eat lunch at the famous McClard's, before heading out of town.

The bathhouses were very neat to see.  The little ones enjoyed learning about them and exploring all the areas of the old Fordyce Bathhouse, which is now the National Park's Visitor Center...

and strolling down Bathhouse Row...

B earned his Junior Ranger badge...

and we got to take a taste of the famous water (cooled down to 100 degrees!)...

We didn't make it to McClard's for lunch, opting for a little cafe on Bathhouse Row, but stopped by on our way out of town to pick up some sauce...

Having spent some extra time in Hot Springs, we were in a bit of a rush to make it to our next stop, President Clinton's Birthplace Home, in honor of our President-loving B...

The girls were still sleeping, so Hubby stayed in the car with them.  We got there just in time and though the last tour for the day had already left, the sweet park ranger let us walk over with her to lock up the house for the day...

This was his grandparents' house in Hope, AR.  His mother was sadly widowed 3 months before little "Billy" was born.  He lived here until she remarried.

On the way out of town, we drove by his second home in Hope, where they lived before moving on to Hot Springs.

With both our Hot Springs and Hope stops, we had collected quite a few stamps by the end of the day...

From Hope. we made the short trip over to Texarkana, mainly for this fun photo-op...

mainly because I love nerdy things like this, but I've already owned up to that!

At the advice of Greenville friend, G, who was born and bred in this area, we grabbed dinner at Bryce's Cafeteria...and yes, their peach pie was absolutely fabulous!  The 5 of us shared a slice!

Beginning our 2 days in Texas tomorrow...

More {Road Trip} 2012 Fun

Day One - Memphis, TN

Day Three - San Antonio, TX

Day Four - Houston, TX

Day Five - On the Road to New Orleans, LA

Day Six - New Orleans, LA

Day Seven - Mississippi and HOME

{Road Trip} Day One - Memphis, TN

Last night we made the short trip up to my mom's house to shave about an hour off of our drive today and it helped a lot!  We left NC early, early, early and booked it straight across the great state of Tennessee all the way to Memphis!  With the help of changing times zones, we arrived in time to grab a late lunch (the "Bite Boxes" came in quite handy today!) at The Arcade Restaurant, a place that has earned the title of "Memphis' Oldest Cafe"...

The food was fine...  Our waitress was not so good...  They were out of B's t-shirt size...  BUT, we did get to eat at a famous Memphis landmark (they say that almost every movie filmed in Memphis has at least one scene filmed in the cafe or outside of it) and take advantage of a great photo-op in the booth that Elvis always used to sit in...

I like nerdy things like that!

After lunch, we headed over to the Memphis Zoo...  We love us some zoos...

This zoo had very little shade and it was H-O-T...  I mean, really HOT...  But, more on that later...

We beelined it over to see the pandas...

and the little ones rode a camel...

I have to say that I was really proud of them for doing it without either Hubby or me!  Hubby had ridden one in Morocco years ago on a college trip and didn't have any desire to do it again and I just plain didn't have any desire to do it at all!  Of course, one of us would've gone if they had really wanted us to, but they were completely fine!

After we finished up at the zoo, we drove around (while the little ones napped) and checked out some other places from our air-conditioned car!  Overall, we weren't extremely impressed with Memphis...  Hubby and I would like to come back and tour Graceland one day and maybe spend some time on Beale Street and spend a couple of nights at The Peabody, but other than that, I don't know...  I will say that crossing the Mississippi River into Arkansas was a really beautiful little drive.

Off to explore Arkansas tomorrow!

More {Road Trip} 2012 Fun

Day Two - Arkansas

Day Three - San Antonio, TX

Day Four - Houston, TX

Day Five - On the Road to New Orleans, LA

Day Six - New Orleans, LA

Day Seven - Mississippi and HOME

Ready to Road Trip!

And so we are OFF on our Crazy Family Road Trip for the summer!  When I say crazy, I mean 9 states in 5 days with 2 parents and 3 kids (6 and under) in a Suburban stopping at zoos, museums and National Parks and eating at some neat landmarks, too...  So, crazy we may be, but we are looking forward to a fun time touring the Southwest!

Now, I am super lucky that my kids (all 3 of them) sleep well in the car...no problems there...  With family as far north as New York City and as far south as the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we are no strangers to long car rides, but this will probably be the first multi-state and on the go non-stop trip that we have taken with them!

In order to prepare, I put together "Busy Bags" for each little one...

filled with books (both new and old), favorite toys, cards, games, etc.

I found this adorable I Spy FREE Printable and made a couple copies for each little one so that they can search for things each day...

B loves learning about the U.S. Presidents.  With stops planned at President Clinton's Boyhood Home in Arkansas and at one of President Bush's favorite coffee shops in Texas (as well as one more surprise stop), I threw in a lot of things that he already had to reference his favorites...

and of course, his license plate game, from good friend, S, when we met up with her in Philadelphia.

I also made my own "Bite Boxes" for each...  What a great idea!

Lastly, what I think will help the most is that I prepackaged each of the little ones' outfits for each day of our trip.  I labeled them and packed them in order in their bags so that each night (instead of taking 3 extra suitcases in) we just have to unpack 3 ziploc bags!

I got this idea here, and have high hopes that it will make things a lot easier for us...or for Hubby who has to unpack the car each night!

Looking forward to a FUN trip with our sweet family of FiVe!

More {Road Trip} 2012 Fun

Day One - Memphis, TN

Day Two - Arkansas

Day Three - San Antonio, TX

Day Four - Houston, TX

Day Five - On the Road to New Orleans, LA

Day Six - New Orleans, LA

Day Seven - Mississippi and HOME

{Summer FUN} Fort Moultrie

For the last couple of months, I have wanted to get my little ones started collecting National Park Passport Stamps.  We love to take family road trips and B is just now getting old enough to appreciate the places that we visit and to actually learn (and remember) things on those trips. 

So, on the way home from the beach, we (took a little detour and) headed over to Fort Moultrie.  We picked up our Passport Books...

and had fun exploring the site.

Fort Moultrie is extra special to our family because Hubby's grandfather was in command of the National Guard unit that was tasked with closing it down in the 1940s.  Though we had visited before, it is always so special to go back and see the places where our ancestors once lived and worked.

We drove down "Officer's Row" where Hubby's grandfather once lived...

{this was military housing at the time!}

and explored the fort...

{we think that this might be the office where Hubby's grandfather worked!}

 {our little "Marilyn" with her dress blowing up!}

B earned his Junior Ranger badge...

and we collected our first stamps...

before stopping by the lighthouse on our way out...

What a great place to kick off our quest to visit as many National Parks as we can!

Guess we will have to go back to these (and collect some stamps)!

Carl Sandburg Home

Philadelphia

{All In a Day} Children's Museum of the Lowcountry - Charleston, SC

 While at the beach, and with the impending threat of Tropical Storm Beryl and the rains that came with it this morning, we headed up to Charleston and spent some time exploring the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry.

I just LOVE the kid-size door...so cute!

While at the museum, we started out in the Raceways exhibit...

explored the Medieval Creativity Castle...

created a couple of masterpieces in The Art Room...

tried out the WaterWise! exhibit...

played in the Pirates! exhibit...

shopped in the Charleston Market...

climbed on the Fire Truck...

and completed our tour in the Kid's Garden...

What a great adventure!